Page 24 of Never Always
I don’t say hello when I pick up. “I need to go swim laps, Sue-Ellen. There’s nothing more to tell right now. Trust me, you’ll be the first to know when there is.” I’m not ready to tell her about last night and how chess will never be the same. I eye the chessboard on my coffee table. “I need an idea for a date tomorrow. Could you help me out? Please.” The last word is spoken in a whiny tone I know she’ll respond to as my big sister.
“You can’t just drop a text on me like that. Send me a picture of him. What kind of date are we talking?”
Putting my phone on speaker, I pull my swimsuit off the hanger where I left it to dry and get dressed in the dining room. I toss my dirty clothes into the washing machine as I wait for Sue-Ellen’s grand idea. “Okay, let me scroll the internet and figure this out. Call me back when you’re finished swimming. I’m so excited for you. Will we meet him at Thanksgiving?”
“I’m not making any promises. But hey, I need an epic date, something that he’ll never be able to forget.” Because I’m so forgettable. “Call you when I’m done.”
“I have you, sis,” Sue-Ellen says, and I can hear the excitement vibrating in her voice. Give her control in an arena she’s skilled in and the woman is unstoppable. Hanging up the phone, I grab my pool bag and toss my keys in and make my way to the pool.
The woman who was here the other night is swimming laps in the same lane. She pops up, breathing heavy when I sit down in the lane next to her.
“Hey,” she pants, pulling up her goggles. “You were here the other night. I’m Ariel.” I resist the urge to make a lame mermaid joke and smile instead.
I dip my goggles in the water. “Nice to meet you. I’m Tennyson. I’m here most nights,” I admit. “Are you new here? I am usually here by myself at this time. Not that I mind at all,” I say, backtracking. “It’s actually nice. This place can get a little creepy.” Especially after watching the news today, I think.
“I’ve been here a while. Just started swimming because the weather is getting colder and my lungs don’t like running when it’s below fifty. Might as well exercise in the pool instead. I think I saw you a bit earlier. Down in the parking garage?”
Funny, I didn’t notice anyone. Grange was in my proximity and he seems to own everything. “Oh, yeah. Your spot in the same section?” It’s a mindless question to keep the conversation flowing.
“Was that your boyfriend?” she asks, nose wrinkling as she pulls herself out of the water to sit next to me. “That man you were with?”
My skin prickles and I’m uncomfortable. There’s something in her tone that sounds threatening. “Why do you ask?”
“I know him. Or I used to know him.”
My heart leaps, and for the second time tonight I feel like I might vomit. “Yeah? Seems he gets around then.” It’s a joke, a precursor to soften the blow of whatever she’s about to tell me because I know it’s not going to be some good deed Grange has done. It’s going to be felon four status and I hate it. That I’m being lumped with him. Ariel is looking at me as if she feels bad for me. The look is recognizable anywhere. Lips curled down, eyes a bit squinty, demeanor soft.
“Actually, he’s a really good guy who got caught up with trash.” Ariel pulls off her swim cap and long curly black locks fall out in a mess of waves. Not red, I muse. Villain Ariel, then. “There’s something you should know. Or something I’d want to know if I was dating him. Is he still hung up on Sierra?” Ariel hisses her name, like it’s a dirty word. “That manipulative skank.”
I clear my throat. “Tell me.” I’ll try not to engage in slander if I can help it. “If you want.”
“It could get me in trouble. Can I trust you not to say anything?” Sighing, I let out a desperate breath. Of course. More secrets. Grange, pulling me down even when he doesn’t know it. “You look like someone I can trust.”
“You just met me,” I reply.
Her jaw quivers. “I’ve lived with this long enough and it’s not fair that she got exactly what she wanted and I’m a cast-off whore.”
It will be a regret, I’m sure of it. “I won’t say anything.”
“Woman to woman.”
I nod. “Of course.”
“Sierra paid me to drug and sleep with Grange so she could walk in on us.”
Oh, heavens to Betsy. Stars above. The story Corrick told me about the night Sierra sent him to her friend’s house. This is the woman he cheated on her with. I jump away from her, petrified at the knowledge that I live in the same place. The irony is he didn’t mention that fact. “What?” I spit. “I know the story. He told me. But why would she ask you to destroy her relationship? Why would you do that? Woman to woman?” I throw her words back in her face.
“Sierra was having an affair with the man she’s with now. For over a year. She didn’t see any way out of the relationship with Grange without throwing a grenade on it. The only thing that would make it easy to walk away from him was if he cheated.” Ariel does look remorseful. Disgusted with herself, but your worth isn’t something you can put a price tag on. “I lost my job, you see? And I thought she was my friend, and I was being evicted so I needed money. It was stupid. So, so stupid. A regret I’ll live with for the rest of my life, but I can’t go back in time. What is done is done. I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time and sex is just sex. But lacing his drink? I feel sick about it. He wouldn’t have cheated on her without it. Sierra told me I had to make it impossible for him to resist me. She even picked out the lace bra and mixed the cocktail of roofies and some herbal supplement that’s supposed to make him hard and horny.” Her body deflates as this secret finally leaves her body. “I have a real great job and am dating a really great guy now. I’m not the same person. The anger is still there. For how she made it seem like the best idea. The only idea. To think, I felt bad for her at the time. I used the fact that he cheated on her with me to flame my fire. He was a cheater, you know? As time passed and Sierra turned a blind eye to Grange completely, I realized how dumb my mistake was. I didn’t just throw a grenade on their relationship, I threw it in Grange’s lap.”
I lay a hand on my stomach and swallow a thick lump down. “He knows something was off that night. Grange didn’t feel like himself. You need to tell him.” If I had a gun and I was a different person, I would kill Sierra for what she did. Twisted doesn’t describe it well enough. She is the devil incarnate for forming a plan and exploiting a weakness to get what she wants. “He’s lost everything over this already. Give the man a bone. Something to win back some pride.” Being the social cast-off, I don’t know how roofies affect someone, but I know what I’ll be studying tonight. I’ve heard of them, of course, but is it possible to make lucid decisions while on it?
“Please. You said you wouldn’t say anything.” Ariel starts shaking.
“I won’t. You should though.” On a second thought, how upset will Grange be? He wouldn’t hurt Ariel, but would he go crazy on the man Sierra is with now? What would that look like? She was cheating on him for a year. I say, “Or maybe let me.” I let my gaze find her terrified brown eyes. “He won’t press charges for… that night. He might take the news better from me.” I know how to handle the beast when it rears.
“You said you wouldn’t say anything,” Ariel repeats earnestly. She took a wild chance telling me with the hope I wouldn’t tell anyone. How vulnerable she must feel. “You are a stranger, but I really hoped you wouldn’t repeat this. The only reason I told you is so he doesn’t have a black mark hanging over your relationship. That night wasn’t his fault. He was good to Sierra. Would have made a great husband. I meddled in fate. It was a horrible decision. It was for your benefit that I gave you the truth. Not for his. That damage is already done. Woman to woman.”
I tug on my ear. Yep, I already regret the promise. “You’re right. I won’t mention it. Even if it would help him. Thank you for telling me.” Honestly, I don’t know if it erases the black mark dangling over his personality. There are too many other things. His temper for one, his crass, offensive mouth, and his need for secrets.
